Shredded sheet material



Feb. 1, 1938. N. E. M CULLOCH ET AL 2,106,896

SHREDDED SHEET MATERIAL Filed 0012. 23, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ya x; o 42 I 1227/0/0 I Baa/I8 ATTORNEYS.

I Feb. 1, 1938. N. E. MCCULLOCH ET AL' ,89

SHREDDED SHEET MATERIAL INVENTOR. 11 0/0104 4 1/73 (fa/IaaZ ATTORNEYS.

Patented Feb l, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Bourne,

n, B. 1., assignors to The Rayon Processing 00. of B. 1., Inc., a corporation of lthodc Island Application October 23, m4. Serial No. 149,504

a Claims. (01. 19-1 This invention relates to a novelty textile yarn comprising either yarn formed by spinning and drafting cut staple fibre formed from sheet material, or in continuous lengths formed by cutting sheet material. This sheet material may be regenerated cellulose, paper, or other substances.

An object of the invention is the provisi'on of a new and simple staple fibre formed by shredding sheet material into narrow strips of approximately uniform dimensions and suitable for textile purposes, which requires both a continuous smooth edged thread wound on spools or other packages, and a spinnable staple fibre cut continuously with comparatively rough edges, to aid spinnabilitm, and then cut in predetermined uniformshort lengths for spinning, either 100% by itself, or blended with other textile staple fibres such as wool, cotton, etc.

Another object of the invention is the making of staple fibre by shaving substantially predetermined uniform shreds from the end of a block of compressed sheets, having a width equal to the required length of the fibre.

. Another object of the invention is the cutting of these staple fibres so that they will have irregular edges and may be better drafted, spun, or blended with other staple fibres such as cotton, wool or other known spinnable fibres.

With these and other objects in view, the inventlon consists of certain novel features of construction, as will be more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings: Fig. 1 is a top plan view illustrating somewhat 3r, diagrammatically a machine with cutters and showing the passage of work through the machine;

' Fig. 2 is a fragmental view illustrating the cutting knives in their group assembly;

40 Fig. 8 is a sectional view illustrating the fingers located between these knives for removing the cut strips from the knives;

Hg. 4 is a top plan view of one end of the work showing the method of starting to cut the same; Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic illustration in side elevation showing the spooling of one of the strips of yarn from the beam on which it is originally wound;

50 Mg. 6 is a top plan view of a portion of the apparatus indicated in Figure 5;

15g. '7 is a top plan view showing a Iragmental portion of the machine with the cut filament or yarn grouped together and fed into a can for 55 storing the threads in rope form prior to cutting them into predetermined desired lengths for spinnable fibres;

Fig. 8 illustrates diagrammatically the manner' of severing into staple fibres the rope form of continuous lengths of yarn formed'as shown in 5 Figure 7;

Fig. 9 shows a group of these yarns in somewhat compressed relation;

Fig. 10 shows a single staple or spinnable fibre;

Fig. 11 illustrates a ribbon of sheet stock as a 10 preliminary step in forming staple fibres in a different manner;

Fig. 12 shows a side view of the ribbons in assembled relation;

Fig. 13 is a perspective view illustrating a plul5 rality of these ribbons assembled and the guillotine knife for shaving staple fibres therefrom;

Fig. 14 illustrates the cutting edge of the guillotine knife microscopically notched for forming spinnable staple fibres having irregular rough so edges;

Fig. 15 shows a shaving of staple fibres taken. from the assembled ribbons as shown in Figure 12;

Fig. 16 is a top plan view of the cutters and 25 fingers.

In the formation of novelty fabrics, it is deslrable to use novelty yarn, and we have found that cut sheet material in continuous lengths may be used for such yarns, or there may be formed short 30 lengths of staple fibres cut to spinnable length and spun alone or blended with other known spinnable fibres such as cotton, wool or other staple fibre to make up a novelty yarn having different characteristics in appearance for the formation of novelty fabrics; and we have developed a particular method of forming such continuous lengths of cut sheet material or of making staple fibres by certain shredding actions which we provide, enabling a production of cut sheet material which will be of a very narrow width and may be formed in multiple in a shredding machine in a practical manner; and we have also found a rather irregular roughened edge is desirable along the length of the staple fibre so that it may have better spinning qualities; and we have also found that where the yarn is of a continuous length, it is desirable to utilize a particular method of handling the initial shredding action of the machine so that the yarn may be more readily separated and handled for later spooling operations; and the following is a more detailed description of the present embodiment of this invention, illustrating the preferred means ,com

With reference to the drawings, ll designates the'bedofa machineupon whichpairsofcutters designated generally II and I! are mounted in suitable bearings and driven by suitable gearing and shafting from the drive shaft l8. Feed rolls also driven in time with the cutter driving mechanism are mountedin suitable bearings II, II for feeding the shredded work to suitable spools or beams designated generally II, II, II which are mounted on shaft and driven through suitable gearing II and shafting 22. The work consists of a web of sheet material fl, wound upon a suitable package 28 which is mou'nted upon a shaft 21 for free or retarded rotation to be drawn thromh the machine as it is required to be operated upon. The work passes through the cutters II and II where itis shredded into a large number of threads 20 which are gathered in groups of any desired number, perhaps a hundred, to be wound upon each of the plurality of spools II, II and I. In practice, sheet material will be in a neighborhood of orty-two or fortythree inches wide and this will be cut into strips of a width varying from one two-hundredths of an inch to one-sixteenth or one-eighth of an inch, as desired.

The widths of material are narrower than any that could be cut in multiples in metal and are narrower than any width which has heretofore been cut in this manner in any material. In reaiiw, threads or yarns are formed and not ribbons such as exist in paper at the present time. These yarns will be cut in lengths of twelve hundred yards and upward, and in order that they may be separated and not become tangled one with another for later spooling, the web of ma terialispassedthroughthecuttersinsucha manner as to leave the end it intact, that is, the upper cutter may be raised while the initial end of the web II is passed therethrough and then lowered so as to start the cutter at a point ll inwardly from this end. Whatever number of strandsofyarnaredesiredtobebeamedona die of the winding frame.

certain spool will then be severed as at 32 and this end will then be wrapped around the barrel of the spool or beam and the following threads will follow as they are fed along' through the 0 machine. when near the end of the package 28 of the sheet material, the cutter will be lifted to provide a similar ending, leaving the yarn thus formed in such a manner that individual strands may be kept in order for later separating and spooling. For instance, as in Figure 5, we have illustrated a beam II from which the individual yarns a are drawn. These yarns will be drawn over guide bars 34 and II to be packaged upon' a spool 28 suitably driven on spindle 01, while a traverse motion 38, 38 will lay the yarn evenly on the spool. In drawing the yarn from beam II the sheet of yarns 33 is flared out, each thread being guided to its spool on the spin- The operator thus has ready access for piecing up threads which may become broken.

The cutters which we provide are formed by a plurality of discs ll assembled upon the shaft ll with a spacer 42 between each of the discs. The edges 43 of the cutters II are square or at right angles to the side surface of the cutter. The arrangement between the cutters II and I2 bdng such that one cutter It will extend between two cutters such as ll in an intermeshing relation, that is, cutters of the group Ii will fit between two cutters in group II, and the arrangement is such that the cutters and spacers are each of the same dimension.

In the use of cutters of this character, it is necessary to clear the material from between the cutters after they have performed their severing action. This is accomplished by the provision of fingers l1 and 4'! located between the cutters of each group.

The cutters shown in Figure 2 may be provided with microscopic nicks or irregularities I! along their edges for more particularly forming a roughened or irregular edge along the cut strip for the more particular use in connection with forming staple fibres to produce the proper spinning qualities. These nicks or irregularities on the edge are not required where continuous lengths areformed.

In Figure 7, we have shown a different handling of the yarn such as shown in Figure 1. Here in Figure 7 the yarn strands designated generally 63 are bunched together and drawn through a guide 54 through rolls 55 and deposited circularly in a can or other suitable container 56 in generally rope form which we now designate 51. From this rope we cut the yarn to provide staple fibres of a required and definite length. This rope II is fed through a guillotine machine upon a belt 58 traveling over suitable rolls such as N, and this rope passes through feed rolls 60 and Ii to feed the same beneath .a reciprocating guillotine knife 62 oscillated by a crank 68 and link 64 to reciprocate the head 65 upon which the knife 62 is mounted. Suitable guides 66 and I! hold the rope of yarn in compressed relation, so that when the knife severs the same, the individual fibres 68 will drop into a suitable receptacle 0. where they are maintained and from which they are gathered to be separated, for shipping to be blended with other fibres, such as cotton or wool and spun into yarn.

In cutting the yarn or strips for the purpose of providing staple fibres, the edges of the cutters, as shown in Figure 2, are formed irregularly so as to provide microscopic nicks along these edges, such as at 52, and thus a staple fibre will be formed which will be somewhat in the shape as shown in Figure 10, with points 10 on one side and recesses II on the other side. Another method of forming staple fibres with roughened or irregular edges is to produce a slight tearing action by increasing slightly the width of spaces between the knives without increasing the width of the knives to completely fill the space.

In some cases we may choose to provide staple fibres of a length upward from three-quarters of an inch to possibly five and one-half inches in a difierent manner, and in this case we will take a plurality of sheet strips of material II designated in Figure 11 of a width 13 and superimpose these sheets or strips of material one upon the other, as indicated at I4 in Figure 12. We then pass this group of superimposed strips through the guillotine machine, shown in Figure 8, and shave from the end of this superimposed group of strips a shaving ll of a width possibly from one-two-hundredths of an inch in thickness or upwards to provide the required dimension of fibre which is desired for blending with other fibres. This guillotine knife designated 10 is provided with an uneven or microscopic irregular edge ll by the formation of nicks ll thereon, so that when the fibre is cut, it will be in the shape of the fibre shown in Figure 10, that is, it will have projections on one side and recesses on the other which will assist in its spinning qualities and enable it to be better blended with other staple fibres.

Slices 15 in a subsequent operation are opened up so that each individual fibre is made separate. These may later be curled by exposure to a high humidity condition. Spinnability may also be increased by treating the fibres with a tacky solution such as glycerin and water.

In the formation of staple fibres, it will be understood that these staple fibres are of different predetermined uniform lengths, all, however, are of spinnable lengths, i. e. for blending with cotton, they will be in the neighborhood of an inch to an inch and a half, while with wool there might be three to four inches, and it will be understood that the staple fibres which we form will be cut to a length desired for blending with any other fibres or for spinning with themselves without blending by whichever spinning method or system is to be used. This blending may take place in any desired percentages.

The foregoing description is directed solely towards the construction illustrated, but we desire it to be understood that we reserve the privilege of resorting to all the mechanical changes to which the device is susceptible, the invention being defined and limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. Staple fibers comprising spinnable lengths of sheet material cut at its opposite ends and out along its opposite edges.

2. Staple fibers comprising spinnable lengths of sheet material cut at its opposite ends and cut along wavy lines along its opposite edges.

3. Staple fibers comprising spinnable lengths of sheet material cut'at its opposite ends and cut along parallel wavy lines along its opposite edges.

4. Staple fibers comprising spinnable dimemsions of shredded non-fibrous material of the character of cellulose film cut from sheet material. I

5. An article useful in the production of staple fibers comprising sheet material having a con tinuous strip along one edge to which is integrally connected a considerable number of filaments of spinnable dimensions having opposite cut edges.

6. An article as set forth in claim 5 and in which the filaments are generally straight but have opposite uneven cut edges.

7. Staple fibers comprising lengths of shredded sheet material of spinnable dimensions cut from sheet material.

8. Spinnable staple fibers comprising spinnable lengths of uniform dimensions cut from elongated strips of thin sheet material.

NORMAN E. McCULLOCH. WILLARD A. BOURKE. 

